Hey Joe,
Didn't know if you had come across this or not but I didn't see it on the blog. In the last week 3 major banking exectutives committed suicide. It is suspiciously missing from any American MSM source, but there are some british reports on it. One was found hung, one threw himself 500ft off the roof of a JPMorgan Chase building and the other I can barely find anything on. With the changes at the FED and the 5.6% drop so far this year in stocks it is very unnerving.
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
Monday, February 03, 2014
Proposal To Hike Minimum Wage Raises Objections From Businesses
Pringle’s family owns four Cold Stone Creamery ice cream shops, three in Anne Arundel County.
Spikes in dairy and energy prices in recent years have bitten into Pringle’s profit margins, he said.
He employs 15 to 20, most of whom are either in high school or have just started community college, and most make the state’s current $7.25-an-hour minimum wage.
Pringle said if the state raises that minimum to $10.10 an hour in 2016, as Gov. Martin O’Malley has proposed, it will mean higher pay for nearly his entire staff.
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Was Hitler Inspired By Lincoln’s Army?
In my Fall 2010 Independent Review article entitled “The Culture of Violence in the American West: Myth versus Reality,” I noted the creepiness of the fact that General William Tecumseh Sherman referred to the U.S. Army’s twenty-five year campaign of genocide against the Plains
Indians, which he was in charge of for the duration, as “the final solution to the Indian problem” (Cited in Michael Fellman, Citizen Sherman, p. 260). It is creepy because it reminds one of Adolf Hitler’s “final solution” rhetoric. I did not claim in my article that Hitler literally plagiarized General Sherman or was even familiar with Sherman’s “final solution” rhetoric, but scholarship that has been brought to my attention suggests that he may well have been.
The scholarship is cited in a June 18, 2013 article in the jewishjournal.com Web site by Lia Mandelbaum entitled “Hitler’s Inspiration and Guide: The Native American Holocaust.” Citing the books Adolf Hitler by John Toland and Hitler’s Rise to Power by David A. Meier, Mandelbaum writes that “it shook me to my core” when she “learned that the genocidal mentality and actions of the U.S. policymakers [from 1862 to 1890] would find similar expression years later when the Nazis, under Hitler, studied the plans of [“The Long Walk of the Navajo”] to design the concentration camps for Jews.”
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Indians, which he was in charge of for the duration, as “the final solution to the Indian problem” (Cited in Michael Fellman, Citizen Sherman, p. 260). It is creepy because it reminds one of Adolf Hitler’s “final solution” rhetoric. I did not claim in my article that Hitler literally plagiarized General Sherman or was even familiar with Sherman’s “final solution” rhetoric, but scholarship that has been brought to my attention suggests that he may well have been.
The scholarship is cited in a June 18, 2013 article in the jewishjournal.com Web site by Lia Mandelbaum entitled “Hitler’s Inspiration and Guide: The Native American Holocaust.” Citing the books Adolf Hitler by John Toland and Hitler’s Rise to Power by David A. Meier, Mandelbaum writes that “it shook me to my core” when she “learned that the genocidal mentality and actions of the U.S. policymakers [from 1862 to 1890] would find similar expression years later when the Nazis, under Hitler, studied the plans of [“The Long Walk of the Navajo”] to design the concentration camps for Jews.”
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America's Shopping Malls Are Dying A Slow, Ugly Death
Traffic-driving anchors like Sears and JCPenney are shutting down stores, and mall owners are having a hard time finding retailers large enough to replace them. With a fresh wave of closures on the horizon, the problem is set to accelerate, according to retail and real estate analysts.
About 15% of U.S. malls will fail or be converted into non-retail space within the next 10 years, according to Green Street Advisors, a real estate and REIT analytics firm. That's an increase from less than two years ago, when the firm predicted 10% of malls would fail or be converted.
"The risk of failure for a mall increases dramatically once you see anchor closures," said Cedric Lachance, managing director of Green Street Advisors. "Their health is very important ... and most of them are highly likely to continue closing stores."
Within 15 to 20 years, retail consultant Howard Davidowitz expects as many as half of America's shopping malls to fail. He predicts that only upscale shopping centers with anchors like Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus will survive.
"Middle-level stores in middle-level malls are going to be extinct because they don't make sense," said Davidowitz, chairman of Davidowitz & Associates, Inc., a retail consulting and investment banking firm. "That's why we haven't built a major enclosed mall since 2006."
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Former Gang Member Hired At Dept. Of Corrections? Republicans Want Answers
State Reps. Dennis Reboletti, John Anthony and Jeanne Ives are outraged that Xandrian McCraven, a former Chicago gang member with more than 24 arrests, has been hired by the Illinois Department of Corrections.
How does a former street gang member with an extensive criminal record get placed into multiple high-paying government jobs that allow him access to sensitive information?
That's what a group of Illinois Republican lawmakers want to find out. Whether by clout or incompetence, it can't happen again, they say.
State Reps. Dennis Reboletti (R-Elmhurst), John Anthony (R-Morris) and Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton) are outraged that Xandrian McCraven, a former Chicago gang member with more than 24 arrests and falsified job qualifications spanning multiple state agencies, has been hired by the Illinois Department of Corrections.
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How does a former street gang member with an extensive criminal record get placed into multiple high-paying government jobs that allow him access to sensitive information?
That's what a group of Illinois Republican lawmakers want to find out. Whether by clout or incompetence, it can't happen again, they say.
State Reps. Dennis Reboletti (R-Elmhurst), John Anthony (R-Morris) and Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton) are outraged that Xandrian McCraven, a former Chicago gang member with more than 24 arrests and falsified job qualifications spanning multiple state agencies, has been hired by the Illinois Department of Corrections.
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10 Reasons Everyone Should Go On A Low-Carb Diet
Low-carb diets have been controversial for decades.
They were originally demonized by fat-phobic health professionals and the media.
People believed that these diets would raise cholesterol and cause heart disease because of the high fat content.
However… times are changing.
Since the year 2002, over 20 human studies have been conducted on low-carb diets.
In almost every one of those studies, low-carb diets come out ahead of the diets they are compared to.
Not only does low-carb cause more weight loss, it also leads to major improvements in most risk factors… including cholesterol.
Here are the 10 proven health benefits of low-carb and ketogenic diets.
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They were originally demonized by fat-phobic health professionals and the media.
People believed that these diets would raise cholesterol and cause heart disease because of the high fat content.
However… times are changing.
Since the year 2002, over 20 human studies have been conducted on low-carb diets.
In almost every one of those studies, low-carb diets come out ahead of the diets they are compared to.
Not only does low-carb cause more weight loss, it also leads to major improvements in most risk factors… including cholesterol.
Here are the 10 proven health benefits of low-carb and ketogenic diets.
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'Gluten Brain': Wheat Cuts Off Blood Flow To Frontal Cortex
As far back as 1954, reports of the full or partial resolution of schizophrenia following a gluten-free diet began to surface in the medical literature. We covered this remarkable pattern of associations in a previous article titled, “60 Years of Research Links Gluten Grains to Schizophrenia.” While the explanation for this intriguing connection has remained focused on the disruption of the gut-brain axis and the presence in wheat of a wide range of pharmacologically active and mostly opioid receptor modulating polypeptides, a new and possibly more disturbing explanation is beginning to surface:wheat consumption cuts off blood flow to the brain.
Starting with a 1997 case study published in the Journal of Internal Medicine involving a 33-year-old patient, with pre-existing diagnosis of ‘schizophrenic’ disorder, who first came to medical attention for severe diarrhea and weight loss (classical symptoms of gluten intolerance), brain scan technology determined that cerebral hypoperfusion (decreased blood flow to the brain) was occurring within the patient’s frontal cortex. A gluten-free diet resulted not only in the normalization of intestinal damage and autoantibodies, but the return of blood flow to the frontal cortex, and the resolution of schizophrenic symptoms.
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Starting with a 1997 case study published in the Journal of Internal Medicine involving a 33-year-old patient, with pre-existing diagnosis of ‘schizophrenic’ disorder, who first came to medical attention for severe diarrhea and weight loss (classical symptoms of gluten intolerance), brain scan technology determined that cerebral hypoperfusion (decreased blood flow to the brain) was occurring within the patient’s frontal cortex. A gluten-free diet resulted not only in the normalization of intestinal damage and autoantibodies, but the return of blood flow to the frontal cortex, and the resolution of schizophrenic symptoms.
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Atrocity
There is a human tragedy smoldering in America’s inner cities. Twelve million poor children, mainly black and Hispanic, are trapped in failing government schools that are teaching them nothing. As a result, they will never get a chance at a middle-class life. Virtually every school board and every administration in inner city districts is controlled by Democrats, and has been for over fifty years. Everything that is wrong with inner city schools that policy can fix, Democrats are responsible for.
How bad is the inner-city school crisis? Almost half of black students in public schools, and almost half of Hispanic students drop out before graduation and fail to earn a diploma.[1] The dropout rates are especially high in urban areas with large minority populations, including such academic disaster zones as Washington, DC (57%), Trenton (59%), Camden (61.4%), Baltimore (65.4%), Cleveland (65.9%), and Detroit (75.1%).[2] As a result of high dropout rates, black and Hispanic students in these urban centers are denied the American dream and condemned to spend their lives in grinding poverty instead.
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Troopers Urge Motorist Safety During Forecasted Winter Weather
Dover- Troopers urge all motorists to use extreme caution when traveling on the roadways as weather conditions may change rapidly over the next few hours. Motorists should be prepared for snow covered and slippery roads, along with limited visibilities which make driving conditions difficult. Use caution while driving when approaching intersections and off ramps, especially bridges and overpasses.
Motorists should reduce their normal speed on the highways and secondary roads and are encouraged to postpone or avoid unnecessary travel. Those who must drive are reminded to use extreme caution and be aware of these conditions. Allow ample time to reach your destination, allow extra space between vehicles, and keep vehicle headlights on.
Motorists should reduce their normal speed on the highways and secondary roads and are encouraged to postpone or avoid unnecessary travel. Those who must drive are reminded to use extreme caution and be aware of these conditions. Allow ample time to reach your destination, allow extra space between vehicles, and keep vehicle headlights on.
Coca Cola ad on Super Bowl — American’s brand? Hm.
Written by Allen West on February 2, 2014
I’m watching the Super Bowl, looks like good defense (Seattle) is trouncing good offense (Denver) when a Coca Cola commercial came on and it started rather patriotically with the words of “America the Beautiful.”
Then the words went from English to languages I didn’t not recognize. Now, I know the politically correct thing is to foster multiculturalism — working really well in Europe — but we should remember the words spoken by President Teddy Roosevelt;
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EPA Administrator To Scientists: 'Speak The Truth' On Climate Change As Something Where We ... Can Grow Jobs'
(CNSNews.com) – Gina McCarthy, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), asked scientists at a climate change conference on Thursday in Arlington, Va., to explain the science of climate change.
She also said that the EPA looks at climate change as an opportunity to grow the economy and create jobs.
“Scientists, you folks help us understand our world,” McCarthy said at the 14th National Conference and Global Forum on Science, Policy and the Environment: Building Climate Solutions, sponsored by the National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE). “You help EPA to meet our mission of public health protection and environmental protection.
“I need you now more than ever to speak the truth,” McCarthy said. “I need you to stand up together with us and explain what the science is telling you.
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She also said that the EPA looks at climate change as an opportunity to grow the economy and create jobs.
“Scientists, you folks help us understand our world,” McCarthy said at the 14th National Conference and Global Forum on Science, Policy and the Environment: Building Climate Solutions, sponsored by the National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE). “You help EPA to meet our mission of public health protection and environmental protection.
“I need you now more than ever to speak the truth,” McCarthy said. “I need you to stand up together with us and explain what the science is telling you.
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Obama Critics: D’Souza Indictment Is Payback
'It's really to send a signal to others … This is worse than people can imagine'
Dozens of conservatives are claiming the Obama administration is exacting revenge on conservative filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza for criticizing the president in the hit documentary, “2016: Obama’s America” – but liberals insist it’s just another right-wing paranoid conspiracy.
The film was a box office sensation, bringing in more than $33 million and becoming the fourth highest grossing documentary of all time as President Obama campaigned for re-election in 2012. D’Souza’s latest film, “America,” is due in theaters July 4.
Numerous high-profile conservatives say emphatically that D’Souza’s criminal indictment is clearly payback for criticizing Obama.
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Dozens of conservatives are claiming the Obama administration is exacting revenge on conservative filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza for criticizing the president in the hit documentary, “2016: Obama’s America” – but liberals insist it’s just another right-wing paranoid conspiracy.
The film was a box office sensation, bringing in more than $33 million and becoming the fourth highest grossing documentary of all time as President Obama campaigned for re-election in 2012. D’Souza’s latest film, “America,” is due in theaters July 4.
Numerous high-profile conservatives say emphatically that D’Souza’s criminal indictment is clearly payback for criticizing Obama.
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A Letter To The Editor: What Perdue Deserves
By: Ray Wallace
The January 25, 2014 front page of Lancaster Farming, a widely respected agricultural weekly, is right to question Perdue's long-term Pa. plans.
Though Perdue bought a chicken-processing plant in Fredericksburg, Pa. in 2011 knowing it needed upgrades, Perdue now appears to be using that an excuse to close the plant and export 600 jobs to nonunion sites out of state. Furthermore, does Perdue's long involvement with China signal its moving chicken-processing jobs there?
Pa. Gov. Tom Corbett has announced he's awarding multibillion-dollar Perdue $8.75 million for a proposed chemical-using and chemical-releasing soybean-processing plant on a sinkhole-containing site along the Susquehanna River. Perdue brags that this hazard will create 35 permanent jobs. That's $250,000 that Pa. taxpayers owe Perdue for each of those jobs.
Meanwhile, for firing hundreds of Pa. workers and permanently removing 600 Pa. jobs, why doesn't Perdue fairly owe Pa. taxpayers 600 x $250,000 or $150 million?
If, under Gov. Corbett, the Pa. Department of Environmental Protection OK's Perdue's application to release the dangerous neurotoxin hexane from a taxpayer-subsidized soybean factory, Pa. farmers and their customers will be forced to pay to breathe Perdue's adding hazardous air pollution to this already polluted area. We need no more pollution dumped on us, our precious soil, water, livestock, crops, and everything else in this agricultural community.
It's time to remind Jim Perdue, Gov. Corbett, and the DEP that we're all fed up with rich outsiders who act like they're entitled to come here, take money from us, and pollute everything -- while claiming to help farmers and create jobs but in fact doing the exact opposite.
"You are what you eat," says a friendly chicken farmer named Jim Perdue in cartoon TV commercials airing locally. Unfortunately for Perdue, we are nothing like the go-along public he treats like other cartoon characters. We do not happily jump up and down whenever he thinks up something new and self-serving to tell us.
We Pennsylvanians are more than the food we produce and eat. We're also what's in our wallets, in our lungs, and in our wombs.
Anyone planning to further poison our very air, families, and way of life doesn't deserve corporate welfare.
He deserves jail.
Week Five: Hearings On Transgender Bill, Inheritance Tax, Pit Bulls
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Repealing Maryland's inheritance tax is a priority of House and Senate Republicans which they argue penalize middle class and wealthy Marylanders.
The House bill to repeal the tax will receive a hearing Tuesday in the House Ways and Means Committee. The Senate bill gets its hearing on Wednesday in the Budget and Taxation Committee.
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Google Patent Seeks To Transmit Your Cellphone Videos To Law Enforcement
System could have nightmare implications for privacy, freedom of assembly
Google has filed a patent for identifying when a “mob” event takes place by detecting when a number of cellphone videos or photos are taken at one particular location with the intention of forwarding such information to law enforcement authorities.
“When there are at least a given number of video clips with similar time stamps and geolocation stamps uploaded to a repository, it is inferred that an event of interest has likely occurred, and a notification signal is transmitted (e.g., to a law enforcement agency, to a news organization, to a publisher of a periodical, to a public blog, etc.),” states US Patent #20140025755.
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Google has filed a patent for identifying when a “mob” event takes place by detecting when a number of cellphone videos or photos are taken at one particular location with the intention of forwarding such information to law enforcement authorities.
“When there are at least a given number of video clips with similar time stamps and geolocation stamps uploaded to a repository, it is inferred that an event of interest has likely occurred, and a notification signal is transmitted (e.g., to a law enforcement agency, to a news organization, to a publisher of a periodical, to a public blog, etc.),” states US Patent #20140025755.
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Field Notes By Delegate Michael A. McDermott
Observations and Reflections on Legislative Activities
Week 4 January 27-31, 2014
Monday Evening Session:
There were some of the first bills crossing over from the Senate on First Reader in the House. One of particular interest for farmers dealing with manure transport issues is SB-127. The bill appears to give greater latitude to the Dept.of Agriculture in determining price caps.
Tuesday Morning Session:
I offered the Morning Prayer to begin session. I recited the prayer offered by President George Washington as his first act upon taking office. Whenever I have the opportunity, I try and remind the members of our rich history and our country’s focus on God. It is always a good reminder.
There were no bills on First Reader.
was on Third Reader. This bill would require the state to cover all of the medical expenses for individuals who tried, or say they tried, to sign up for Maryland-Obamacare if they were unable to actually receive coverage under any plan. The O’Malley-Brown administration made this request but can provide no budget number or even identify the number of persons that we may need to cover. Essentially, the democrats want to provide a blank check to cover the failures of Maryland-Obamacare that could easily exceed $100 million. This concern was expressed by many delegates from the floor. In spite of these concerns and the failure of the democrats to provide answers, the bill was passed along a party line vote.
Tuesday Afternoon Judiciary Hearings:
HB-17 seeks to make the use of an interactive computer service to bully or harass people a misdemeanor. This bill would expand the provisions provided in the cyber bullying bill that was adopted last year (Grace’s Law) and make it apply to adults as well. There was quite a bit of debate over the expansion and the impact on the 1st Amendment rights of individuals.
HB-21 would make it a crime to disobey an order given by a 911 operator. This was, perhaps, a well intended bill, but it has so many pitfalls so as to render it misguided at best.
HB-27 seeks to place certain requirements and protocols in place for incarcerated prisoners who are pregnant. It specifically seeks to mandate the method and form in the use of shackles, and other physical restraints often utilized when transporting pregnant prisoners.
HB-33 referred to as “Lynette’s Law”, this bill seeks to make it a crime for a licensed therapist to have sexual contact with a patient within two years of the victim being a patient of the therapist.
HB-43 would make it a misdemeanor for a person to disclose sexual images, etc. of another person without the consent of that person. This is one of the so called, “Revenge Porn” bills that the committee is hearing this year. This bill would make it a misdemeanor. This bill does not address the extortion issues that I seek to address in HB-204.
HB-64 is a very similar bill to HB-43 except that it makes the crime a felony as opposed to a misdemeanor.
HB-65 would increase the penalty for Harassment and specifically names members of any Neighborhood Watch group as being persons who can be charged with Harassment. It has been crafted in response to the Martin case in Florida. I do not believe that singling out Neighborhood Watch folks is appropriate and it would probably make people reluctant to get involved in protecting their own neighborhoods.
HB-116 would require police officers throughout the state to wear an active video camera on their person to record all of their activities. The bill would have a significant fiscal impact on local agencies.
The hearing in Judiciary went well. It was easy to use the other “Revenge Porn” bills that others had testified to earlier as a segway for HB-204. This bill simply expands the current Extortion law to include using sexually explicit images, video, etc. as a means of blackmail against an individual. Currently the law seems unclear that this would be applicable.
I had a hearing in Environmental Matters Committee on my Tinted Widow exception for law enforcement. It was well received and there was no opposition. The bill simply would allow law enforcement vehicles to use window tinting on their vehicles to provide some degree of temperature protection for equipment, K-9’s, etc. It would also provide some protection for victims who are transported to the scene of an apprehension for a potential identification.
This bill was heard in Ways and Means and seeks to eliminate the Statute of Limitations on the crime of Income Tax Preparation Fraud. Often these cases are not uncovered until well after the current 3-year time that is in place. The Maryland State’s Attorney’s Association weighed in on the bill in full support.
This bill was also heard in Ways and Means. If passed, it would lower the Corporate Tax Rate in Maryland from the current 8.25% to 6% in a graduated step down over the next 5-years. There was an interesting dialogue with some of the democrats on the committee who alluded to a work group formed by the committee to make recommendations on making Maryland better for business. It appeared quite clear that they are not considering our tax code as an area that needs to be lowered. In fact, it seems their approach will be to cherry pick certain businesses that they wish to bless while not doing anything unilaterally. I testified that the Corporate Rate is simply one part of what should be a holistic approach to solving our decline in the area of business revenues. While I believe cutting the rate would create jobs and increase revenues over time, the democrats on the committee do not make that connection and only see the lost revenue from the tax cut. I told them they needed to first consider why Maryland has lost 7 of 11 Fortune 500 companies over the past 7-years and move to fix this breach.
Wednesday Morning Session:
Judiciary Committee Budget Briefing
Judiciary Committee Afternoon Hearings:
HB-181 seeks to increase the fees charged to lawyers for docketing the appearance of Council in the Circuit Court for Carroll County. In a committee of many trial lawyers…what odds would you give this bill?
HB-183 seeks to limit the liability of the Industrial Development Authority of Carroll County by including them under the definition of “local government”. This is a local bill and these types of para-governmental agencies are often provided this type of protection.
HB-201 would add to the costs of our District Court fees $5.00 designated to a fund to provide for defray the costs of law enforcement agencies utilizing electronic citations and their equipment needs. This bill has been introduced previously and there is reluctance to increase these costs.
HB-211 is a Delegation Bill from Carroll County that would raise the salaries of the Orphans Court Judges from $10,000 to $15,000 per year. It would also provide the Chief Judge with an additional stipend of $1500.
HB-239 this bill would simply allow an applicant to the Bar or any lawyer to simply use a credit or debit card to pay certain fees of the of the court. It was hard to understand why this is not already being done.
HB-243 the bill would make the unauthorized use of a motor vehicle a civil matter as opposed to a criminal act. This would significantly impact the rental car folks. It was said that many who rent vehicles allow others to drive them without the permission of the rental company which violates their contracts. When these folks are stopped, they are often issued a citation for Unauthorized Use of a Motor Vehicle. This process allows for the immediate recovery of the vehicle by the rental carrier as the unlawful operator is generally detained by police and charged with a misdemeanor. I am afraid that if this law is decriminalized, there will be very limited recovery of these rental vehicles.
Thursday Afternoon Judiciary Committee Hearing:
HB-242 would allow Kent County to conduct a Truancy Reduction Program which has already been implemented in several other counties in the state. The program seeks to provide alternatives to curb truancy and has been used successfully in other areas of the state.
HB-178 expands the services provided by the Department of Human Resources allowing them to make contact with relatives in “out of home” placement situations. It was said this bill would help with placement of juveniles in the least restrictive environment.
HB-179 would change the make-up of the Adult Public Guardianship Review Boards currently in place within every county. It would require that one of the members be a member of the medical community other than a psychiatrist. It would also allow a Registered Nurse be allowed to serve in place of one of the Doctor assigned positions.
HB-222 would place the crimes of 1st Degree Burglary and Animal Cruelty on the list of crimes that must be reported by law enforcement to local school boards.
HB-236 This bill is titled the Maryland Collaborative Reproduction Act. It seeks to address surrogate legal contracts and agreements made between individuals for the purpose of a woman providing gestation services to another person seeking to have a child through this process. This is really an area that needs some study before any action is taken. There seems to be a desire to move this through quickly and I cannot help but think the LGBT community is driving it.
Friday Morning Eastern Shore Delegation Meeting:
We heard from Secretary Murray from the Dept. of Business and Economic Development. He is always very enthusiastic (which I appreciate). He pointed out what he believed to be good progress by the administration in the area of business development while always avoiding the elephant in the room. I asked him about Beretta leaving Maryland for Tennessee and he said that was true. He said the company was expanding and was choosing to do so in another state. He also alluded to statements made by the company when the Gun Bill (SB-281) was passed last year indicating they were simply following through with what they had stated at that time. I’m sure Charles County would have appreciated the jobs and money of a major plant expansion. How long before Beretta moves out entirely we do not know. There is a smaller Benelli (part of the Beretta family) operation in Pocomoke City and we will have to wait and see how any future plans impact their Maryland operations.
I pointed out to Sec. Murray that I had asked him for the past two years to get more involved with the poultry and agricultural businesses in the state to insure that they had a business advocate at the table when these new regulations and proposals come forward. He indicated that he tried to always remind his fellow cabinet members of the importance of these farming interests as business entities. Based upon the current state of affairs, it seems his voice does not carry very far in the room.
We heard a brief presentation from Secretary Hall of Planning. He spoke about trying to utilize additional funds from the Chesapeake Bay Trust to address additional septic concerns on the shore. I told him perhaps he could ask the governor to stop transferring tens of millions out of the trust fund to cover his General Fund expenditures. I also told him that it was beginning to look as though we did not need to double the Flush Tax since they keep taking so much money out of the fund for other expenses. He said he would pass that along (yeah, right). I also asked about the number of counties that had complied with the Tier Mapping. He stated that 14 counties had submitted maps. He said they were going back and forth with one particular county (probably Cecil) regarding issues with their proposal. Needless to say, it would seem many of our counties had opted to not comply or submit their plans. It was clear that the state is heavily embedded in local planning decisions based upon some of the discussions that took place between Sec. Hall and Delegate Arentz (R-Queen Anne) regarding a county growth area designation.
We heard from the Tourism Advisory Council and there were representatives from all of the local departments of tourism on the Eastern Shore. They were advocating to keep the governor’s proposed budget numbers for tourism in tact at $8.5 million as opposed to the budget review recommendations of the minimum mandated number of $6.5 million. The vast majority of this revenue is utilized for advertising and this is one area where the numbers can be seen in a very positive light when it comes to direct state revenues. This area of state spending is a big help to the Eastern Shore as we are quite dependant upon tourism to pay the bills.
Friday Morning Session:
Several Senate bills crossed over and were also on First Reader. Most were local bills. A couple of them were filed by Senator Colburn and would specifically impact Dorchester County(SB-76) and Cambridge (SB-152).
5 Cent Tax Proposal Per Chicken To Be Held Off Today
A proposed bill will be introduced today in Annapolis to tax 5 cents per chicken to help clean up the Chesapeake Bay. Salisbury News is being told it will be tabled for at least two weeks, at this time.
The state of Maryland is in pretty bad shape financially and it never ceases to amaze me how creative these Liberals can be trying to tax and fee just about anything imaginable.
They've raised the sales tax, increased tolls everywhere, they're proposing a new minimum wage increase which will harm the Eastern Shore more than anywhere else in the state and they've even gone so far as to create a rain tax to boot.
We've watched Mayor Ireton put in a six foot tall drain pipe into the Wicomico River along with hundreds of other pipes that discharge into the River as well, yet it's ALL the Farmers fault.
Is it just me, or are you people starting to realize that after Salisbury has been rated the #1 polluter of the Chesapeake Bay based on multiple discharges from the Waste Water Treatment Plant, these very same Liberal Tree Huggers who are all about the environment are the very same people causing such mentioned harm and are the biggest culprits.
Yeah, just keep voting in these Liberals while they knowingly pollute our tributaries, blame the Farmers and come up with these incredible fees. The funny part is, even Liberal Voters have no clue that their own people are screwing them.
Besides, with a failing grade for the past 20 years, the Chesapeake Bay will NEVER get clean until ALL of you realize the majority of pollution is coming DOWNSTREAM from other states and there's NOTHING we are doing about it.
Sunday, February 02, 2014
Super Bowl Funnies
Todd Starnes
At this point the only thing that could save Denver is President Obama pulling out his pen and ordering Seattle to redistribute some of its points.
At this point the only thing that could save Denver is President Obama pulling out his pen and ordering Seattle to redistribute some of its points.
BREAKING NEWS: Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman Found Dead
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